‘The Worst Best Man’ (2020) Book Review

The Worst Best Man Synopsis from the Publisher:

A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. There’s just one hitch… she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials.

Marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. Then he learns he’ll be working with his brother’s whip-smart, stunning—absolutely off-limits—ex-fiancée. And she loathes him.

If they can nail their presentation without killing each other, they’ll both come out ahead. Except Max has been public enemy number one ever since he encouraged his brother to jilt the bride, and Lina’s ready to dish out a little payback of her own.

Soon, Lina and Max discover animosity may not be the only emotion sparking their attraction. Still, this star-crossed couple can never be more than temporary playmates because Lina isn’t interested in falling in love, and Max refuses to play runner-up to his brother ever again.

Review:

I started this book in October and finally finished it. Something about it failed to hold my interest all in one sitting, and I found myself reading and finishing other books in between picking it up to read and then putting it back down. I honestly enjoyed the diversity Mia Sosa included in the book, and I adored Lina’s family and culture.

I think Lina and Max put me off for a while. Max, because he just seemed too perfect, in a way? He didn’t have many flaws, and while I don’t need my leading men to be jerks, I do prefer it when they have a bit of an edge to them or just some flaws that make them seem more relatable to me. I softened toward Lina as the book progressed, but her childish behavior toward Max when they began to work together put me off, and maybe that’s why I had trouble initially finishing the book.

Her fiance, Andrew, is the one who ditches her at the altar, and yet she harbors a bigger grudge toward Max for allegedly being the one to convince Andrew to do it. Andrew seemed almost like an afterthought, and we never see the fallout from the broken engagement. We never see Lina’s heartbreak and it becomes evident that Lina had wanted to marry Andrew because he was a safe choice and she didn’t actually love him. So why was she so angry with Max for saving her from a loveless marriage with a jerk? I just didn’t understand it.

Once Lina stopped behaving like a juvenile, I enjoyed the book a bit more, but I just wasn’t feeling much chemistry between Max and Lina… and that might have been because Max was a bit of a doormat for her and didn’t challenge, or push back the way I wish he would have.

All in all, this book was okay. I did enjoy Mia Sosa’s writing style, though, and I will read some more of her books! I just found that this one wasn’t for me.

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